Posts Tagged ‘Mystery’
Tuesday, December 31st, 2019
Slightly out of the ordinary for what I usually collect:
Penzler, Otto. Mysterious Obsession: Memoirs of a Compulsive Collector. The Mysterious Bookshop, 2019. First edition hardback, #219 of 250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Non-fiction. The story of how Penzler assembled his famed collection of mystery first editions. This edition sold out before publication. I have precisely one copy available through Lame Excuse Books. Bought directly through Mysterious Bookshop at a slight discount off the $50 cover price.
Tags:Book Collecting, Books, Mystery, Otto Penzler, reference works, small press publishers
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Friday, October 11th, 2019
Two books, one a small press signed/limited edition that I’ll have in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, the other anthology I just missed picking up when it came out:
Lansdale, Joe R. The Big Book of Hap and Leonard. Short, Scary Tales Publications, 2019. First edition hardback, #101 of 400 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Collection of Hap and Leonard stories. Includes everything in the Tachyon Hap and Leonard trade paperback, plus several additional pieces. I’ve also laid the three SST stickers affixed to the tissue paper wrapping the book ships with, because that’s just the sort of hairball I am.
Lansdale, Joe R., editor. Crucified Dreams: Tales of Urban Horror. Tachyon Press, 2011. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Reprint anthology. Some good stories in here.
Tags:Books, Hap & Leonard, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Mystery, Short Scary Tales (SST) Publications, small press publishers
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Saturday, August 17th, 2019
All three of these were bought from Joe R. His Ownself’s table at this year’s Armadillocon.
Lansdale, Joe R. The Elephant of Surprise. Mulholland Books, 2019. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread, inscribed to me by the author. Hap and Leonard novel.
Lansdale, Joe R. and Kasey Lansdale. Terror Is Our Business: Dana Roberts’ Casebook of Horrors. Cutting Block Books, 2018. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, inscribed to me by Joe Lansdale.
(Lansdale, Joe R.) Jabcuga, Joshua, Todd Galusha, and Horacia Domingues. Joe R. Lansdale’s Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers. IDW, 2019. Trade paperback original, a Fine copy, inscribed to me by Lansdale. Graphic novel adaptation of Lansdale’s Bubba and the Comic Blood-Suckers.
Tags:Books, First Edition, Hap & Leonard, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Mystery
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Wednesday, April 17th, 2019
Another addition to the Lansdale collection:
Lansdale, Joe R. and Karen, editors. Dark at Heart. Dark Harvest, 1992. First edition hardback, #120 of 400 copies signed by all the contributors, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just a couple of touches of edgewear at top front (and a $45 price sticker on inside front flap, as per Chalker/Owings), in a Fine slipcase. Anthology of “dark suspense.” Includes some signatures I didn’t have in my collection heretofore, like Ardath Mayhar’s. Chalker/Owings (2002), page 1049. Nova Express Lansdale Bibliography, 1A.2. Hankow, A Checklist of Joe R. Lansdale, AA4a. Bought for $17.26 plus shipping off eBay, less than half the publication price of $45.
Chalker/Owings noted that the move into mystery is what killed off Dark Harvest, though I suspect they did OK on this (Lansdale’s a strong seller).
Tags:Books, Dark Harvest, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Mystery, small press publishers
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Wednesday, February 27th, 2019
This is an upgrade, replacing an unsigned copy of he trade edition with a signed copy of the trade edition:
Bloch, Robert. Screams. Underwood -Miller, 1989. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with a $39.95 overprint pricing sticker on flap (as issued). Signed by Bloch. Omnibus edition of The Will To Kill, Firebug, and The Star Stalker, being the first hardback editions of each. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 440. Bought off eBay for $25.
Tags:Horror, Mystery, Robert Bloch, signatures, Underwood/Miller
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Thursday, September 27th, 2018
Sometimes you overpay for something because you couldn’t afford it when it came out, or to get the whole set.
Both of these volumes were produced by the Vance Integral Edition project (VIE for short), and were produced separately from the 44 volume VIE set (which I also own). I thought the volumes too pricey for what you got when they were announced, but since I’m closing in on a complete Jack Vance hardback collection, and own a VIE, I paid a premium for each.
Vance, Jack. Coup de Grace and Other Stories. Vance Integral Edition, 2001. First edition hardback, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, matching the appearance of the “Reader’s Edition” of the Vance Integral Edition. Short story collection done as a “preview” edition to generate interest in the VIE project. Offered at $75. Chalker & Owings (2002), page 946. Chalker & Owings list a print run of 1,000 copies, which seems too high given the relative scarcity of the title, though several were evidently distributed at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Bought off eBay for $102.50.
Vance, Jack. Strange She Hasn’t Written/Death of a Solitary Chess Player/The Man Who Walks Behind (AKA 14 bis). Vance Integral Edition, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, matching the appearance of the “Reader’s Edition” of the Vance Integral Edition. The original titles for three mystery novels originally published under the Ellery Queen pseudonym as (respectively) The Four Johns, A Room to Die In and The Madman Theory, with textual corrections based on evidence of Vance’s original manuscripts uncovered as part of the VIE text correction process. Evidently one of 400 copies printed. ISFDB gives an offering price of $63, [Edited to add: Though this issue of Cosmopolis says they were available to subscribers like myself for $45]. Bought off eBay for $122.50. Edited to add: This source says that there were only 100 copies of this volume printed, which accords much more with how rarely I’ve seen it offered…
Neither of these volumes comes to market nearly as often as the stated print runs would have you believe, so I was happy to snag these.
I lack but one other VIE volume, the “science fiction preview” volume containing The Languages of Pao and The Dragon Masters, which I’ll have to put on the want list even though I already have first edition hardbacks of both… (Update: Now I have that as well.)
Tags:Books, Jack Vance, Limited Editions, Mystery, Science Fiction, small press publishers, Vance Integral Edition
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Thursday, August 23rd, 2018
The first batch of the books I bought at Armadillocon a few weeks ago:
Lansdale, Joe R. Jackrabbit Smile. Mullholland Books/Little Brown, 2018. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed to me by Lansdale. Hap and Leonard novel.
Lansdale, Joe R. Jonah Hex: Shadows West. DC Comics, 2013. First edition trade paperback graphic novel thus, compiled from previous individual comic books, a Fine copy, inscribed to me by Lansdale.
Lansdale, Joe R. Rusty Puppy. Mullholland Books/Little Brown, 2017. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Lansdale. Hap and Leonard novel.
All obtained for swaps/trade credit.
Tags:Books, comics, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Mystery
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Tuesday, March 20th, 2018
Subterranean Press had a charity sale for PC copies of various lettered and numbered states of various books, most of which had already sold out. I took advantage of it to snap out some books for authors I collect, this being the first:
Vance, Jack. Desperate Days. Subterranean Press, 2012. First edition hardback, a PC copy of the 26 copy lettered edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dustjacket and a Fine- traycase (there’s a small flaw to the cork-lined interior front lid), signed by Vance. Contains “The Genessee Slough Murders: Outline for a Novel” not in the trade edition (though reprinted from Jerry Hewett’s bibliography). Contains three Vance mysteries: The Fox Valley Murders, The Pleasant Grove Murders and The Dark Ocean. Note that there was no regular numbered edition of this, so the lettered edition was the only one signed by Vance. Bought from the Subterranean PC sale for $250 plus shipping. Supplements a trade edition.
Also note that the traycase for Desperate Days is distinctively different from the one the lettered edition of Dangerous Ways, the first book in this mystery reprint series and which resembles an even larger book with it’s rounded spine. The traycase for Desperate Days resembles the regular Subterranean square traycase.
Tags:Books, Jack Vance, Limited Editions, Mystery, Science Fiction, signed, Subterranean Press
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Tuesday, March 6th, 2018
Another small press Joe R. Lansdale item:
Lansdale, Joe R. and Jussi Piironen. Hap and Leonard: Savage Season. SST, 2017. First hardback and first limited edition, number 105 of 270 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Graphic novel adaptation of the first Hap and Leonard novel. The IDW trade paperback edition precedes.
I’ll have copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Tags:Books, graphic novel, Joe R. Lansdale, Mystery, signed, small press publishers
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